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TALKIN’ BOUT MY LE-LE-LE-LECTION

In further electoral news, we may never have seen the conclusion to “A Song of Ice and Fire” if Kerry won.

This is one of the more visible manifestations of something I’ve noticed all over the web this past week. Basically, it’s a rejection of, well, the US. “If the country really voted this way, it makes me sick.” “I can’t live here any more. I’m leaving.” “You know what? Screw all of you. I hate you all. Die.”

We didn’t see this in 2000. Maybe it’s because the election was prolonged, delayed, and finally decided with a coin flip. The left could deny Bush legitimacy on fairly solid grounds. He lost the popular vote, he (very) arguably may have lost the electoral vote due to shenanigans.

But this time, Bush got more votes. Not MANY more – the country is still cleft in two – but he won. And to many, this means the majority of people are wrong. Not disagreed with. Not seeing issues differently. WRONG. Idiots. Rednecks. Religious zealots. All sorts of other pejorative terms being flung about with reckless abandonment. The same sort of terms we saw from the far right 6 years ago, when the roles were reversed.

You know what? I disagree with MOST people politically. But that doesn’t make them wrong. It doesn’t make their vote meaningless. It means that what I believe to be the best way to do things, others aren’t yet convinced of. YET.

It’s an attitude BOTH sides of the spectrum would do well to consider, unless they want every election to devolve into referenda of who lives in the country and who doesn’t believe in God. And if that’s the case, well, heck, let’s just have Civil War 2 and get it over with, because talking to people you disagree with is apparently really HARD.